SESSION 12. Let It Flow Through You! through you! FOCUS CLASS PREPARATION SCRIPTURE. Open Up

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1 SESSION 12 Let It Flow Through You! FOCUS May peace be with you, may peace pour down. May peace be with you as I send you out. As I was sent, God s will to do; so I send you, with the Good News. Now go and spread this blessing, let it flow, let it flow through you! You will spread forgiveness; you will mend and heal, You will show a hopeless world that my love is real. Doug and Jude Krehbiel SCRIPTURE Luke 24:36-53 CLASS PREPARATION 1. Song from CD: Let It Flow Through You 2. Small plas c funnels, one per par cipant. A variety of colors, shapes, and sizes would make it fun. 3. Permanent markers 4. Several items with different viscosity to pour through funnels. 5. Containers (basins, bowls, cups) for the funnel exercise. Open Up A Strange and Blessed In macy By Mary Schertz In my mother s last years, we three daughters shared in caring for her. As we moved deeper into that strange and blessed in macy with her, my first reac on was fear. Can I do this? Do I have the compassion, the presence of mind, the ability to track details, the pa ence, and, yes, the love, which I need to do this? 1

2 God is faithful and I discovered that I did have what I needed to do this work. I relaxed and came to treasure the moments the discussions we had, the li le pleasures of the day we shared, the moments of helpless giggles when we were both taken with the absurdity and joy of our lives together in this stage of life. At some point, I became aware that I was receiving much more than I was giving. I found it difficult to explain this to others and found myself irritated when people, in all their sincerity and good-heartedness, complimented us on what we were doing for Mom. No, I wanted to say, it is what she is doing for us. The months passed and the years. Then, there came the day, when it dawned on us, Mom and me, that what was happening was Eucharis c. We did not use that word at the me that was something I thought later. In fact, the recogni on was essen ally wordless. But at the end of a long day, a day when she was frustrated and I was red, in the middle of her evening meds, she grasped my hand and we looked into each other s eyes and we knew. We knew that God was present, that our care for each other, as we were each able, was a bond far greater and far stronger than that of mother and daughter. Jesus was present in our hands, and in our skin, and in our eyes. This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood poured out for you. It was both recogni on and reconcilia on. Not recogni on and reconcilia on of broken rela onship Mom and I were fine but more a recogni on and reconcilia on with life as it was and death as it would be. And taking joy in our all too evident humanity the very incompleteness and imperfec on that called us to the divine. i Song: Let it Flow Through You Song lyrics available at: h p://upsidedownking.weebly.com/lyrics.html REFLECT Invite par cipants to choose a plas c funnel and recall a me when they were the recipient of God s peace and love flowing through someone to them, or they were the vessel through which God s love and peace flowed to someone else. Open the Story Jesus mission on earth is complete and it is just beginning. It is me to put purpose and mission of his earthly life, death, and resurrec on into the hands of the people who followed him. The people who vacillated between believing in him and forsaking him are now responsible to carry out the message of repentance and forgiveness. You are witnesses of these things, Jesus tells them. It is a commission, and it is Jesus final act of grace for his followers. There are no superheroes among this band. There are no pillars of sainthood among this 2

3 motley crew. But they are the ones who have stayed with him, faltering at mes but always returning to him. These are those entrusted with the most cri cal, most crucial, most important task to humankind witnessing these things. ii Imagine how those disciples must have felt. In a very short me, their emo ons have been on a roller coaster ride of deepest despair to unbelievable ecstasy. Now they are being told that it s all up to them. We don t know how long this last seminar of final instruc ons with Jesus lasted. One short sentence, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45) could have lasted hours or days. But when all was said and done, the disciples knew that what Jesus said was up to them to do: to be witnesses of these things and to wait for the power from on high to fill them. The disciples, and the church that grew from them, were witnesses not only of Jesus life on earth, but also of the history of God s work in the world from the beginning. The church is to be rooted in Scripture and ac ve in mission. Repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all na ons. (Luke 24:47). The Bible always envisaged that when God finally acted to fulfill all the promises made to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, then the whole world would be brought into the embrace of God s saving and healing love. That is what must now happen. Repentance and forgiveness of sins are not, therefore, simply a ma er for the individual, though they certainly are that. At the heart of being a Chris an is the personal turning away from sin, and celebra ng God s forgiveness, which is a er all at the heart of the Lord s Prayer itself. But these two terms go much wider as well. They are the agenda that can change the world. iii We are funnels of God s love, changing the world one moment, one interac on, one word, one kindness at a me. Luke s Gospel portrays Jesus engaged in the business of rela ng to those who are marginalized and in need. When Jesus appeared to the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus that Sunday morning in Pales ne, he appeared as a humble, common passerby. Most o en in our lives as Chris an disciples, Jesus will appear beside us as we are going about the tasks and the happenstances of our mundane... lives. The point of the Incarna on is that God has come along side us. The point of the Incarna on is that God is humble as well as glorious, near as well as distant, at hand as well as unfathomable. iv 3

4 Open Road Ahead How would Luke, let alone Jesus, view our contemporary a empts to bring people into our churches? What would be their response to our high-tech worship services, our plush pew seats, our paid staff for every age group we minister to, our high-dollar décor? Is it possible that we focus on comfort in our appeal for followers while Jesus focused on discomfort in his appeal? How do we call people to an upsidedown kingdom when we are concerned with being right-side up and comfortable? v REFLECT Consider the ques ons above. How do we deal with these paradoxes? Perhaps the community of the atonement really does need to look carefully at the ma er of church growth and reassess what it truly means to iden fy with the least. Perhaps our standard of church growth needs to become something other than numbers. How are we working at reconcilia on? Reconcilia on between God and the people God loves? Reconcilia on between individuals and between tribes of people? Reconcilia on between people and the earth? How are we doing at the hard and holy work of restoring jus ce? Reaching the en re world with the gospel is a worthy and important goal. Midwifing the restora on of the world is [an] even more important goal of the gospel. We cannot separate our proclama on of Jesus as Lord without a ending to the wounded and weary world. We cannot separate our a en on to the wounded and weary world from proclaiming Jesus as Lord. The community of the atonement gathered around Jesus is a community restoring jus ce in as many ways as it can imagine. We have enough encouragement from church history, if nothing else, to trust that if we are truly living out our discipleship in the restora ve way, the way of the upside-down kingdom of God, the church will not only grow but glorify God. iv ACTIVITY This is the last session in this series. What have you learned? What new opportuni es will you take to let God s love, peace, forgiveness, and hope flow through you to the people you meet every day and to the world around you? What difference does it make that you follow Jesus? How does your community see Jesus in your congrega on s life? Op on: Pour something through the funnels to symbolize God s love flowing through you. Consider having items with different viscosity, because we experience our ability to be God s vessel in different ways at different mes. 4

5 Spend me in personal reflec on and discussion as a group. Use the markers to write goals on your funnel, no ng what you will do personally, as a group, and/or as a congrega on to be funnels for God. Take the funnels home or display them in the church. Op on: Encourage the whole congrega on to do this ac vity. Song: Let It Flow Through You i. Mary Schertz, Luke. Believers Church Bible Commentary (Harrisonburg: Herald Press, forthcoming), 171. ii. Ibid., 169 iii. N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone. The New Testament for Everyone (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 301. iv. Schertz, 170. v. Ibid., vi. Ibid., 163. Up-Side Down King logo used by permission from Doug & Jude Krehbiel. 5